Remember the Time?
by RipredtheGnawer
Summary: The words that come from his lips make me wish that he had been beaten black and blue, tortured to the brink of death - maybe even dead - if he would say differently. Rated T just in case. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this is _very_ AU-ish. Everything up until Mockingjay has happened. There have NOT been any of the interviews between Peeta and Caesar Flickerman (while he was in the Capitol). Also, Gale didn't go on the mission to find Peeta. Obviously, as you'll see.**

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"Katniss! Katniss, Haymitch wants to see you!" I jerk around to see Prim standing near the door of my Nuclear History class. Her face is flushed with excitement and Gale, by my side, seems just as confused as I am.

"Excuse me, but this class is in session. Soldier Everdeen must stay for the remainder of the lesson. You are…?" The instructor pauses inquisitively.

"Primrose Everdeen, sir, in Medical Training. President's orders, sir." I'm shocked at how formal and grown-up my sister sounds. There's no trace of the timid girl I volunteered for a year and a half ago.

"Ah. In that case, Soldier Everdeen, you may go. Be sure to make up the missed work." I nod and rise. As I walk out, I hear the instructor say, "No, Soldier Hawthorne. You stay here."

In the hall, I turn to Prim. "What's going on?"

"You'll see," she says happily. She takes my hand and drags me through the maze of District 13. But I can see that she's bursting to tell me, and I'm not at all surprised when she squeaks, "Okay, I have to say it now!"

"Yeah?" I laugh.

"Peeta's back!"

Now I'm surprised. I have to put one hand on the wall to keep the world from spinning. But it's not enough and soon I'm sitting on the floor with my back against the wall.

"Katniss? Are you all right?"

I open my eyes to see Prim's blue ones inches from my own. The color brings back the memories of rain and hunger and bread – and the boy whom I thought was dead, gone forever. Except he's not.

It's a shock at how thoroughly I've accustomed myself to thinking I would never see Peeta again. It's like a punch in the gut, over and over again. But I can't hate the feeling because Peeta is _back_. He's alive. The boy with the bread has not left me.

"I'm great," I tell her, and get to my feet. Prim leads me to the medical area, the hospital, and I'm engulfed in a haze of fear. What if he's hurt beyond repair? What if he can't speak or walk?

What if he blames me?

"He'll be okay, Katniss," Plutarch assures me. He's standing with Haymitch, Boggs, and Coin. Seeing the president of Thirteen brings me back to myself.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demand. "You send soldiers on a mission to bring Peeta back and you don't let me know? I have a right to hear about this!" A new thought strikes me. "I should have gone!"

"The possibility of your death on a Capitol mission was too great. As the Mockingjay, you must be kept safe."

"Safe? Safe?" I'm screaming now. "My life has _never_ been safe! I've got experience with danger and if you think I care about being _safe_ when Peeta's in danger, then—" I stop explaining myself and simply shriek every foul name I can think of. A small voice in the back of my mind wonders why I suddenly care so much. I don't love Peeta. But I don't listen to that voice.

"Peeta is coming round," a nurse says as she pokes her head into the hall. I see it's my mother clad in the medic uniform and move towards her. Boggs bars my way.

"Control yourself, Soldier," he orders. I take a deep breath and look the man in the eyes. He moves aside.

I enter the hospital room and there he is, just sitting up in his bed. My feet carry me forward without conscious thought because nothing can keep me from Peeta, nothing. If he's alive and at all reachable, I will find him. And here he is, barely two yards away. I close the distance rapidly.

"Peeta," I gasp, pushing the doctors aside. I caress his face. Smooth back his ashy blonde hair. He makes no move towards me. I'm worried, but tell myself that it's simply the aftereffects of the gas.

"Did they hurt you?" I murmur as I notice that there is not a single mark on his body. He seems to glow in that full-body-polish way.

But the words that come from his lips make me wish that he had been beaten black and blue, tortured to the brink of death, maybe even killed, if it meant he would say differently.

"Who are you?"

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**A/N: What do you think? Good or bad? Real or not real? Should I continue it?**

**You know what to do!**

**(review, you clueless readers. please.)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: SO sorry for the wait! Honestly, I almost completely forgot about this fic. It won't happen again, I assure you - I'm too involved in the plot now! (you jump, I jump, right?) sorry, I couldn't help quoting Titanic!**

**Anyways, this was a really emotional chapter to write. And to "ILOVETARARIEGAN," thanks for reminding me. I wonder, who has memory problems? Peeta or me? But seriously, thanks! And I hope you like it!  
**

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"Huh?" I'm not really thinking straight. Panic is threatening to overwhelm me, and the feeling doesn't allow for the forming of words. What's he talking about?

"Who are you?"

His voice isn't upset or sad. I search his face for the hint of a smile, some clue that he's joking. But there's nothing but a vague confusion, the same as in his tone.

"Peeta, it's me! It's me, I'm Katniss!" My words have no visible effect on him. "Come on, please! You have to remember!" I can't help pleading with him, as though it will make a difference. He's obviously _not_ remembering, so I say the one thing that might make a difference. "Peeta, you love me!"

He takes me in his arms, so tightly but at the same time not tightly enough, and kisses me with undisguised passion. "Katniss," he murmurs in my ear. "Katniss, it's okay. I'll never leave again."

I open my eyes and see him just where he was, more confused than ever. His wonderful, beautiful words echo in my ears even as I realize that he hasn't said them.

"I do?" He shakes his head as if to clear it, blinking spasmodically. Looking at me, I see a depth of guilt in his eyes. "I'm really sorry… Katniss, isn't it? I'm sorry, but I don't know what's going on."

Haymitch is beside me, and with the turmoil in my heart, he could have been there for hours without my noticing it. He leans forward now, his voice ragged. "Do you remember me?"

Peeta takes longer to answer this time. He scrutinizes his former mentor's face, every detail. Then he finally shakes his head. "No. I don't."

Haymitch withdraws as if he's been slapped, leaving the room in what can only be the pursuit of alcohol, which is nonexistent in Thirteen. I try a different tactic.

"Peeta," I begin, and he listens. "You were in the Hunger Games with me. You joined the Careers, and then you allied with me instead. We won, Peeta, we won!"

"What are the Hunger Games? And… Careers?"

He doesn't remember anything. Nothing at all about his past or the people around him. I shake my head. "Never mind." I'm holding onto a slim, impossible hope that he remembers himself. "Who are _you_, Peeta?"

"I'm…" He's thinking very hard, his brow wrinkling in concentration. His eyes squeeze shut. I wait in feverish anticipation for his response. A minute passes, and then another. After what feels like an eternity, he looks at me. "I'm Peeta, I think. And… I don't know anything else."

I hunch in on myself, leaning against his bed, unable to muster hope or energy enough to move. I don't understand why this is happening, and apparently Peeta's just as bewildered if not more. He's repeating, in ever-increasing panic, "Who am I?"

I can't let him continue like this. With more willpower than I ever knew I possessed, I turn to him. "You lived in District 12. You're seventeen years old. You've loved me since we were five, you saved me from starving when we were eleven. We were in the Hunger Games twice and we won the first time, but the second time you were captured and—"

"Katniss!" His voice is strained and filled with horror. I look into his blue eyes, hoping to see recognition. I do, and relief surges within me, only to be washed away as he continues. "I remember your name, it's familiar – when I was… somewhere else, I'm not sure exactly – the people there talked about you and they said – they said – what's the date today?" He's asking me the question, not quoting whoever "they" are.

"September 13th," I answer uncertainly, startled.

"Oh no." He's more worried than ever. "Katniss, they said they'd kill you!"

"It's not really a big deal anymore," I tell him. "My life's been on the line for a few years. Calm down."

"No, no, I mean they're going to kill everyone! They said, 'Katniss Everdeen and the rest of her rebel brood, the sun will shine on their corpses on the dawn of September 14th!'"

Apparently President Coin's been standing behind me for quite some time, because now she asks in a powerful voice that commands an answer, "Do you know anything else? Anything at all?"

"I-I don't think so, no," Peeta admits, and then I'm yanked to my feet. I turn and see Boggs with an iron grip on my wrist. I swing my other fist toward his face but, anticipating this, he grabs it as well and tows me towards the door.

"Peeta!" I scream, losing it completely now. "Peeta!" In the hall, the door slams shut and the lock clicks with an awful finality. I sink down and wrap my arms around my knees, pulling them up to my chest. Sobbing. There are gentler hands on me now, rubbing my back in that forever-comforting way.

"Katniss, it's going to be all right." Prim's voice. I look up and her blue eyes are right there, only now they send me further into hysteria. "It'll be okay. Just breathe." I follow her advice and though I continue heaving with body-wracking sobs, I no longer scream.

I don't know how long I sat there, my heart draining away with every bucketful of tears. I know that eventually Prim helps me to my feet and we are driven downwards by the horrible sirens, down flight after flight of stairs.

We find our bunk, labeled _E_. I sit on the thin mattress and continue with my despair, unsure as to why I'm so broken. I don't love Peeta. That was his job – to love me with every fiber of his being. But I think that there's a part of me that couldn't help loving him back. And now that he's irretrievable, I finally understand the word "heartbroken."

I don't know what it would have done to Gale, and I don't know how I would have reacted. But I would like nothing better than if he'd kissed me.

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**A/N: I feel like I should explain something here. When Peeta says "I'm sorry," remember that he's still a morally good person and feels guilty for making Katniss so upset. Just because he lost his memory doesn't mean he's reduced to a little-kid mind. And when he warns her about the "they're gonna kill you" bit, he's being morally good again. He doesn't know who Katniss really is, or who said she was going to die, but he knows that she's in danger and he wants to stop it. Because he's a _morally good person._**

**On another note, that last sentence actually was in my head when I woke up this morning. It bugged me to no end and I knew I had to put it in a story, but I didn't know which one. Finally I realized just how PERFECTLY it fit here! And while we're talking about waking up - sleeping - I had about fifty dreams about Peeta last night. Don't ask me why. And I can't remember any of them.**

**Does the fact that I woke up with that line give anything away about me? I think so.**

**Whatever. Please R&R!**


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